Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Top 14 Polishes of 2014

Everyone says it on December 31st: "I can't believe today is the last day of the year"! It is finally here, and to celebrate the end of 2014, I went through my polishes and picked my favorite 14 to share today! These aren't necessarily the best polishes that came out in 2014, but they're the ones I liked the most.

14. Salon Perfect Ruby's Cubes (Top of the Class collection)

I think the novelty of this one is what really sucked me in. I'm a 90's kid, so Rubik's Cubes were a common source of childhood entertainment in my day. Owning a polish inspired by the toy is just.... nostalgic. Here I've shown one coat over Zoya Taylor.

13. Color Club Night at the Met (Made in NY collection)

I'm also a sucker for blue polishes. I really liked the dusty quality of this one, with an added silver shimmer to offset it. This is two coats.

12. OPI 4 in the Morning (Gwen Stefani collection)

I fell head over heels for this one the second I put it on! It is naturally a matte black with silver shimmer. It is gorgeous as-is (two coats), but just mind-blowing with a shiny topcoat!

11. Zoya Taylor (Naturel collection)
Zoya Avery has been my go-to beige/nude (I've used half the bottle!) for as long as I've owned it; so I bought Taylor, not realizing they are exact dupes for each other as far as I can see. It is also the closest I've ever found to my mannequin hands shade. Two coats:

10. Salon Perfect Mad About Mod (Top of the Class collection)
I'm not sure what it is about this glitter topper. A few others came out at the same time - dot glitters in different sizes and color combos, and I just think they're really cute! This is one coat on China Glaze Grass is Lime Greener.

9. China Glaze Shell We Dance (Sea Goddess collection)

I've been a fan of the texture trend since it started. I'm actually really bummed Zoya is discontinuing the Pixie Dust line! I own every one, and use them quite a bit! I really liked this one from China Glaze this year. It is such a pretty pink, and that gold shimmer lets it glow through the rough finish!

8. Barielle Boho Chic (Me Couture collection)
If I could have just included the entire Me Couture collection from Barielle in this list, I would have. I loved a lot of the polishes they put out this fall; one being this gorgeous one-coat teal green (I used two coats in my swatch because I like to add another on top after a wrap my tips on the first coat, whether the polish actually needs a second coat to aid opacity or not)!

7. Barielle Moda Bleu (Me Couture collection)

This was one of my favorite blues that came out this year! Dark and mysterious, but beautifully flawless in two coats! It is such a perfect navy!

6. China Glaze Metro Pollen-tin (City Flourish collection)

Regardless of the thick, three-coat, annoyance of a formula, I adore this color! I have nothing else like it, and it really is the pollen color. It's bright, it's bold, it was one of China Glaze's standout polishes this year in my book!

5. China Glaze Grass is Lime Greener (City Flourish collection)

My pictures of this one aren't exact, it is much brighter in person. It is one of those pastel neons and I absolutely love it! Three coats of pain in the butt here, but I'm more than willing to fight with an awful formula for a color like this!

4. Color Club Under Your Spell (Seven Deadly Sins collection)

I'm not sure if this one was meant to be a texture or not, but it isn't so rough it snags on things when you don't add a topcoat. Plus I am a fan of texture, as we've already discussed, so I left this one alone at two coats.

3. Zoya Arlo (Magical Pixie Dust line)

More texture? No way! If I could cheat and add every single Pixie Dust to every single end-of-the-year favorites list, regardless of when they came out, I would. I almost did. But I decided to play fair and selected Arlo, a springtime Magical Pixie Dust. I mean come on, how pretty is that?! And it is absolutely stunning with a shiny topcoat, as Pixies tend to be! Mmm mmm mmm!

2. OPI Do You Have this Color in Stock-holm? (Nordic collection)

If I had to pick one OPI from all of 2014, this would be it! The second and fourth pictures are more color-accurate (but the quality is worse). For some reason my iPhone picked up the color almost perfectly, but my camera refused, so I figured I'd include all the shots. I also matted this one and oh my! It is to-die-for!

1. Zoya Nori (Wishes collection)

I really didn't want to even include this one in my list today because it is so new. I've owned it for about a week, so really I haven't had enough time to fairly judge it. I kept going back to it time and time again while selecting my favorites, though. It is a beautiful blue, it is a texture. It really is a perfect fit for my number one polish! I've shown it here two coats over Barielle Moda Bleu and I am just so in love!! This is truly one of those "OMG I can't stop staring at my nails!!!" situations!

Honorable mentions:

3. L.A. Colors Candy Sprinkles

Since this brand doesn't put out official collections or announcements on them, I am not entirely sure of this polish's release date. I never saw it until this year, though, but fell in love with it when I got it. So I thought I would add it as an honorable mention. It is very candy-like with rainbow glitters in a pink base. It reminds me of a polish called Candy Shop that I had a hardcore lemming for a few years ago!

2. Zoya Posh (Matte Velvets collection)

I've selected this one as an honorable mention because it wasn't originally a 2014 polish. The whole line was re-released for a limited time this year. And oh am I ever glad! I only had one (Savita) and took this opportunity to pick up the rest of the collection. Posh won me over big time and I'm not even that big of a fan of red polishes! I especially love this one with a shiny topcoat! To me, when I think "ultimate chic Christmas polish", this is it!

1. China Glaze Techno (Pop Top collection)

I am on my second bottle of this polish, and that is really rare for me! It is another honorable mention because it was re-released in 2014. Whenever I want some silver glitter with a touch of holo, this is what I grab for. It isn't too dense (I've shown one coat over Color Club Night at the Met below), but looks amazing sponged to opacity!

That's it for my 14 favorites of 2014! What were some of your favorites this year?!